Severe Depression Breaks Hearts

Severe depression is one of those conditions that may be figuratively linked to a broken heart. The mood disorder is most often associated with severe emotional turmoil and distress, to the point where the average person is likely to assume that emotions are what trigger the onset of the condition. This may or may not be entirely accurate, but that is a question for another time. Depression has a list of effects on the body that is quite longer than what one would initially believe, and a recent study has found one more thing to be added to that list. It appears that severe cases of depression aren't just caused by broken hearts, they can actually lead to them too.

It isn't unheard of for people to develop depression in milder forms after a heart attack or stroke, and that this condition can severely worsen the side effects of those events. However, there has never really been any evidence to show that depression could actually cause those heart problems in the first place. A study found that women who had the mood disorder were at more than twice the risk of a sudden encounter with cardiac death – which could be caused by something as simple as an irregular heartbeat. The study also found that there was a smaller risk that was associated with other forms of heart disease.

The biggest surprise among the results, however, was that sudden cardiac arrest and death seemed more closely linked to the use of antidepressant medication than with the depression itself. While it is well within the realm of possibility that the women who used antidepressants were the most depressed, therefore suffering from the worst effects, some researchers stated that the data should not be dismissed so easily. The team called for further research into this, just in case the link is more than what is assumed.